Persona: A New Tale
by Yeah Way
Summary: Lost, bitter and stuck in a foreign country on the other side of the planet, Ryan Eidelman finds himself as the first victim to the latest threat to humanity. With the help of Philemon and the power of the Death arcana, it's now up to him to travel the mysterious parallel world attempting to replace people with their shadows and find a way to put an end to it all.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: The Idle Man**

A dark, endless void surrounds him. He looks every direction, unable to see even himself in the pitch black in which he has found himself. He continues frantically looking around, having found he can't move, or even feel the lower parts of his body. Is he tied down? Chained? He can't even tell if he's standing or lying down; there doesn't seem to be a floor in this place. Suddenly, he catches a flash in the corner of his vision. His eyes dart after it in pursuit, but it has gone. It was… blue: a faint, glowing blue that seemed to fly into his sight for just a fraction of a second. He starts to question whether or not he had really seen anything until he's brought from his thoughts by a deep voice coming from everywhere around him.

"I am naught, but thy shadow. But thy shadow be not thou, for thou wouldst not be whole. Thy journey shall not begin till thou choosest to walk the path before thee."

As soon as the voice finishes, he starts to fade. He can't feel, but he can _sense _that he won't be here much longer. The words are already being forgotten; the blue glow has already vanished from his memory. When he wakes up, he will have merely had a dream. Yes, this was just some ridiculous dream.

"The next stop is Shitara station. We apologise for the delay and wish you a nice day."

The dull, foreign voice blaring on the intercom woke Ryan with a start. He waited for the announcement to repeat, just able to make out the name of his destination amongst the gibberish which his half-asleep brain didn't bother deciphering. He lazily lifted his head off of the table in front of him and looked disinterestedly out the window. The tunnel through which the train was moving allowed him to see his reflection clearly: that of a tall, brown-haired, blue-eyed 16-year-old. If not for his height, he mightn't stick out too much amongst his Japanese soon-to-be-classmates. At least he probably wouldn't have to deal with anyone looking for a fight; besides, he'll actually be _staying _in this school. Not just for a few months, or even a year; sticking out might help him with making friends here, he hoped. It would be horrible if it did the opposite. Ryan looked back down to the table on which he'd been sleeping, feeling more tired than when he'd first fallen asleep but now unable to rest again for the risk of missing his stop. He flipped open the English-Japanese dictionary he'd been using as a pillow and began scanning through it to keep himself awake. With nothing interesting coming to mind, he looked for the word for train.

"…To-re-in." Ryan sighed disappointedly and decided to just wait out the rest of the ride.

Against his will, his eyes wandered about the train's car. They suddenly froze up when he noticed an odd young man staring at him from the far end. The man quickly turned his head, facing away from Ryan; all Ryan managed to make out was a clear smirk on his unkempt face. _"Very funny..."_ he thought sarcastically. _"Go ahead; laugh at the funny-looking foreign child."_ He decided to keep his eyes pointing down the rest of the way.

* * *

The train finally reached the station as the sun finished setting, and Ryan hurriedly walked out. He prayed someone would be awake in his new dorm to let him in when he got there.

When he reached the dorm, he found the door surprisingly unlocked. The exact time he didn't know, but it should have been past curfew at this stage. He walked into the unlit lounge and flicked the switch behind the counter to his left. On said counter he found a poorly scrawled note which read "We apologise for your acommidations; Space is low. Your room is 1. Good luck in school tomorrow."

Ignoring the poor grammar, the note confused Ryan. "Apologise for my accommodations?" He picked up the key which was beside where the note had been and made his way up to his room, trying to be quiet so as not to wake anyone who may be sleeping. He stopped in front of the door marked '1' and turned the key in its lock slowly, fearful of the room behind it. He opened the door and looked in to find… an ordinary room with a desk, bed, wardrobe and two suitcases.

_"There's nothing wrong here…"_ He thought, walking in and carefully placing down the bag he had been carrying with him. He briefly wondered what the note had meant until a yawn reminded him of how tired he felt. Deciding to worry about it tomorrow, he changed and crawled into his bed, quickly falling asleep.

"Look within yourself…" a calm yet authoritative voice whispered to him. However, this voice had a source. Ryan turned his head and saw a small, blue, glowing butterfly shoot across the pitch black in front of him. When it left his field of view, it disappeared again, but he definitely saw it.

"I am thou…" Another voice rang, the first one, the one that came from everywhence and nowhence. "Yet thou art not I. Thou livest unwholly, incompletely. Thou refusest to acknowledge mine existence."

The boy had not a clue what this voice was, nor what it was saying.

"I will become whole alone; thou wilt be but an incomplete husk!" The voice boomed deafeningly before the darkness left once again. The void was now gone, yet there was still no light. The darkness before… had been more than just the absence of light, it had been its opposite. Just as this realisation had come to Ryan, his recollection of all that had occurred left him, slower than last time, yet it had left him nonetheless.

Ryan lifted his arm and rubbed his eyes sluggishly before opening them. Despite his exhaustion he decided to get up rather than risk oversleeping. He opened his suitcase and fished out his alarm clock, which informed him that it was 7am. Figuring it wouldn't hurt to be early on his first day, he showered in the en suite bathroom he'd failed to notice the night prior and after tearing through his suitcase, put on his new uniform. The blue coat felt somewhat restrictive buttoned up, so he left it open and prayed others would do the same at school. He fished around in one of his suitcase's side-pockets until he grabbed hold of that for which he was looking. He took it out slowly, and gave it a close inspection with furrowed brows._  
_

_"This is all that's left of you, eh?" _he thought, neither using any tone in is mind nor showing any feeling on his countenance. He continued staring at the object, a Star of David almost the size of his palm with a string running through a gap, that it could be worn on the neck. The school might have rules against religious imagery, so it'd be best to leave it here. That was what he thought to convince himself.

He packed everything he needed into his bag and made his way downstairs. Since he still had some time before he needed to leave, he figured he'd wait in the lounge and maybe introduce himself to someone else living here before heading out.

_"It's b__een a while since I've had a proper conversation with someone my age…" _he thought. "_Well, it's hardly my fault if I don't know what to say; I've only been learning Japanese since la__st s__ummer," _he told himself.

Whilst he wasn't surprised to find no one else downstairs so early, he was beginning to wonder why it was now time to leave and nobody had shown up.

_"Have they all gone for club activities? But, they shouldn't have started yet…" _There must have been a reason… Suddenly, he recalled the note. "We apologise for your accommodations" "_No… that can't be…"_

* * *

Whether it could be or not would have to wait as it was time for him to leave for school. Due to the odd distance between the dorms and the actual school grounds he had to take a train there. The car in which he was sat hadn't any other students, frustratingly, making it harder to deny his suspicions about the lack of people in his dorm. Finally, after departing his train he found another person in a uniform. It would have been quite hard to miss her even in a crowd due to her bright pink hair which, oddly enough, seemed to be styled specifically to cover as much of her face as possible, as if to hide it: an idea akin to hiding behind an elephant to avoid attention: a loud, brightly coloured elephant. The girl walked quickly, clutching her bag closely. Figuring she knew the fastest way to school, Ryan followed her, at a distance of course; he wouldn't want to walk up and start talking to a complete stranger would he?

_"Well, I am trying to get to know people this time… Whatever; I'll start doing that after I've introduced myself in school and all that."_ Continuing to follow the bright head of hair, he eventually saw the school building. Whilst he was expecting a large school due to the information he'd been given and the rather posh dormitory, he wasn't really expecting what he saw. The building was MASSIVE, beating all of the schools in which he'd enrolled before easily. He'd lost sight of the pink-haired girl by the time he recovered from his stupor, not that it mattered anymore. He made his way to the school and walked inside. He looked around the large room in which he stood until finding the student office on the far side. He walked over to it, suddenly feeling very self-conscious with the number of eyes that followed him across the room, perhaps due to the notable difference in height between him and everyone else, even the few foreigners he could spot. He stood in front of the desk, currently occupied by a disinterested-looking, bespectacled man who seemed to be in his sixties and opened his mouth to speak before realising that he'd no idea how to ask where he was meant to go.

"Need help?" the man asked, fortunately in English.

"Y-yeah, em, could you tell me to what class I am assigned?"

"Name," he asked immediately after Ryan had finished.

"Ryan."

"…Full name?" the man asked, annoyed.

"Oh, sorry, Eidelman, Ryan Eidelman." _Oh god, I can't even give my own name? I didn't think I was so nervous. But, honestly! I doubt there's anyone else in this school called Ryan._

"2-C, anything else?"

"No, eh, arigatou gozaimasu," he said before walking away perhaps a little too quickly. He hoped those people weren't still looking at him, though he dared not look up from the floor to check. He found his classroom, which had a teacher waiting outside it. Before he could wonder why, the teacher noticed him and walked to him with a smile.

"Ah, good morning, new foreign student!" the man called slowly and –at least to Ryan, who wished not for everyone in the hall to be looking his way- far too loudly. The man, who Ryan assumed was speaking so slowly so that Ryan could understand him, was only up to Ryan's shoulder. "_Guess I've to get used to towering over everyone here."_

After reciting his reply in his head at least twice, Ryan spoke back. "Good morning. Are you my teacher?" He couldn't help feeling proud of his work, although he probably still sounded very foreign to him; he'd worked very hard on pronunciation.

"That's right. I'd like you to introduce yourself in front of the class, is that okay?"

"Of course," Ryan replied bravely with a smile. This was what he wanted: to be noticed. No more avoiding people, this time was _different;_ he'd be _staying _in this school. He followed the teacher into the apparently full classroom and, on his way up to the teacher's desk, began to panic. "_Hajimemashite, watshi wa Ryan desu. Hajimemashite, watshi wa __Ryan desu. Hajimemashite, watshi wa Ryan desu," _he chanted in his mind, what if he messed it up? The thought hadn't occurred to him once until right now as he stood in front of about thirty curious gazes.

"Go on," The teacher coaxed, making Ryan realise he'd been standing there stupidly.

"It is nice to meet you all, my name is Ryan Eidelman."

"Anything else?"

_You want more? _"Oh, em, I am from Europe, uh born in England. I have, been moving schools a lot so, I hope you will all, welcome me…"

"Okay, that should do. Hmmm, let's see, ah! You can sit next to Shizune! Shizune! Please raise your hand!" Ryan looked around the classroom, but all he noticed were the students whispering to each other, presumably about him or his failure-of-an-introduction and a gang of lads in the far corner snickering at him. He pretended not to see them. "Shizune!?"

"Oh y-yes?" a panicked, high-pitched voice rang from the back. Ryan then became aware of the bright pink hair that stood out ridiculously, yet had somehow eluded his scanning of the room.

"Geez, Shizune, it's our first day back here, and you're already sick of listening to me," the teacher remarked, earning laughs from the class. The pink-haired girl -or Shizune- blushed deeply and lowered her head to her desk, hiding away from everyone. Ryan walked to the desk beside hers and sat there. Ryan focused on staring at the teacher in order to avoid eye-contact with everyone who was still throwing glance / staring at him.

The first day was short, just for letting the students know what to expect this year, give them their timetables and other such introductory stuff. When the bell rang, Ryan stood up to walk out before noticing the crowd of students who were nearer to the door and currently blocking it. He sighed and sat once again, waiting for them to clear out into the presumably traffic-heavy corridor. He looked around and noticed Shizune had been looking at him. She looked away frantically and stood up, making her way to the door.

After the doorway cleared, he did the same. On his way through the corridor, he heard people talking rather indiscreetly amongst themselves as he walked past.

"Whoa, look at the size of the foreigner."

"Oh, I'm in his class. He's actually really shy; he totally freaked out in front of everyone."

_"I can understand you…"_ He thought angrily. He really had messed it up though… why? Why was he so nervous? He had no reason to be nervous! He'd done this a thousand times before, had to learn of five encyclopaedias' worth of vocabulary and hadn't been this anxious about moving for years. "_Maybe I just had a bad day. I'll do bet__ter t__omorrow, on a proper school day."_

* * *

He returned to his dorm and tried, just for the sake of doing so, to see if anyone else was there. "Hello!?" he called from the lounge, getting no reply as expected. "Brilliant, just fucking brilliant," he said to himself. "I'm finally staying in one place and there's no one fucking here!" he roared, volume getting louder as he went on. He took a deep breath and sat on an armchair, staring at his feet and began to cry. "What… why am I..?" he asked between sobs. "_This is all your fault. Mom, Dad. My life's like this because of you!"_

"Is it really?"

"Huh?" Ryan looked up, seeing… nothing. Literally nothing; everywhere was but a black, empty space. He stood up, on what he didn't know and looked all around him. He could see his own body, but there wasn't anything else around him. Suddenly, a light appeared, it was far away but it was something. Ryan, unable to do anything else ran towards it. The light flashed and Ryan fell, blinded. He opened his eyes when the light faded, finding himself back in the dormitory lounge, or rather, a dormitory lounge. He got up and looked around. Everywhere here was just in different shades of grey. He seemed to be the only thing in colour in the entire room. The room itself felt off; he felt unsafe here.

"You ought to!" Ryan quickly looked to the voice and found it had come from…

"Wh-what… what is this!?"

"Look at me and tell me," it said. It was Ryan; he was greyscale like the rest of the room except for his eyes, which glowed a deeply-unsettling yellow. His attire was also off-putting; it was what Ryan had worn to the funeral.

"You are… I?"

"Wrong!" he shouted immediately. "Oh I could have been you; I wanted to be you but you just wouldn't allow it!"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm the 'you' that you ignore! The thoughts you wish not to have!"

"What the hell are you talking about!?"

"Isn't it fantastic that they're finally gone!?" Ryan's body froze up, his eyes widened. He clenched his teeth in anger. The other Ryan laughed heartily at this reaction. "Now they can't drag me around anymore. I can finally live my own life; shame it had to be in this shithole." Ryan couldn't believe what he was hearing; it was all said in his voice, too.

"Believe him; listen to what he says…" He heard a whisper. It wasn't the grey Ryan in front of him but someone else: a powerful, commanding voice. The grey Ryan didn't seem to hear it.

"Just because my uncle's here I had to move to this kip? He doesn't even give a fuck about me! Why else would he have me fuck off to a private school? 'To get you used to living on your own' he says. What the fuck does he think I was doing when my parents were alive!?"

"Shut up!"

"Why? Why do you even bother denying any of this? They didn't do anything for you! They just brought you along with them because they had to!"

"That's not…"

"Don't. If you deny it, it will kill you." The other voice warned. Though there was no reason to, Ryan felt he could trust this voice. But what it was saying was impossible. How could he believe what he was hearing?

"So now here you are! You've gotten what you wanted! Those pricks are dead and you're here. And you will stay here, so what the hell's wrong now? You've been telling yourself that you're just 'not bothered knowing people whom I'll be leaving soon anyway.' But you're here now; time to start 'bothering.' Only problem now is that you haven't a clue how to go about it!" Ryan stood there listening to the uninhibited, raw negativity of his own mind. Yes, this was his mind.

The voice returned. "What he says-"

"I GET IT!" Ryan roared from the top of his voice. "I get it! I'm a scumbag; I hated my parents, and I'm a coward! Are you fucking happy with yourself!?" He roared at the grey Ryan, running up to him. "What do you suppose I do about it then!? What do want from me!?" He grabbed his other self's collar and pushed him into the wall. "I hate you; that's why I ignored you! You're a selfish cunt who only thinks about himself and is never satisfied with what you have. But the biggest reason why I hate you is because I know I'm you!"

The shadow smiled. "I'll always be a part of you. Everyone has someone like me in them." He replied calmly. "The first step to making me a smaller part of you is to know that I'm here." Ryan let go of his other self and stared at him: this horrible, cynical person who hated himself as much as he hated everyone else. But he was right, how could he get rid of something he wouldn't acknowledge in the first place? "So may I go back?" The shadow asked.

"It's not as if you were ever really gone…" Ryan replied. His shadow held out a hand to him, which he took in his own. The shadow then dissolved into a black smoke which entered into Ryan's chest. Having something so bad become a part of him… felt really good. His mind felt… clear. He was, in that moment, happy to be alive. An unexplainable joy washed over him; and, just before the world around him faded away for the third time, he smiled contentedly.

* * *

**Author's Note: I'm reuploading this because I've made some changes with where I want to take the story and the kind of style I want it to have. Chapter 4 will be coming out very soon.  
**

**Apologies to all three of you who've read this story already. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: The Potential**

Bright colours surrounded him as he flew through the empty space. One was his own; a radiant white light emerged from his flapping grey wings, shooting forward into the iridescent blur all around him. The void was now filled with colourful smoke, various sounds of unknown origin echoing loudly and abruptly vanishing, sounding reminiscent of turning cogs. The shining moth flew past many random oddities that hung suspended in this noisy, smoky space: symbols and characters, objects both mundane and unique, equations, works of art, images, memories, people and places. All were parts of his mind, his entire, _whole_ consciousness. The moth finally found what it had been looking for, a new addition to the sea of his soul: a door, floating freely within the smoke amongst the other fragments of consciousness. The door opened itself for the moth, revealing a bright white space behind it, into which the moth eagerly fluttered.

Ryan found himself on a small square of checker-patterned floor. There were no walls; the floor floated in a dim, hazy space which was dead silent. Pillars stood on the edges of the floor, at the back there was an altar-like feature, but none of this went noticed by Ryan, for his gaze remained securely fixed to the man in front of him. He was tall, in perfect shape, wearing a grey, sterile, creaseless suit with a dark blue tie. On his face, he wore a white mask with a blue butterfly painted over the right eye and his long, jet black hair was tied back in a ponytail. This man was surrounded by a great, imposing aura of wisdom and fatherhood. Every instinct Ryan had was telling him that this man was to be listened to, this man was to be trusted and this man was to be obeyed. A look of awe was all Ryan could manage in front of this almighty being.

The man bowed deeply before Ryan and spoke. "Welcome, my name is Philemon. I live between the realm of consciousness and unconsciousness. So tell me, who are you?"

"I am… Ryan Eidelman," he replied, resisting the urge to add 'sir' at the end.

"Excellent, there are not many who know their identity when they have come to this point; it seems you have passed the first test."

Fortunately, that was all he wished to say. Ryan was desperate to ask questions to Philemon, but wouldn't dare interrupt him to do so. "Are you the one who spoke to me? Who helped me earlier?"

"Indeed. You have now come to learn that you carry more than one 'you' in yourself: the merciful, angelic you; the cruel, demonic you, and the myriad of other forms which your personality chooses to take or discard every day." Everything Philemon said was taken to heart. He could make the most irrelevant trivia sound like life-saving advice. "Humans live behind many masks, but for now you have thrown yours away, as proven by your claiming your identity. You now know who you really are."

"That 'other part of me'… how did all this happen? Was it all some sort of dream?"

"I am afraid not. Whilst the shadow by which you were confronted was a product of your own ego, the place in which you were confronted was anything but. There are outside forces at work: forces that wish destruction upon your kind. If not for my intervention, the shadow would most certainly have killed you."

"So I was _brought_ to that weird, grey world? Why? And by whom?"

"Almost every human produces a shadow at some stage of their life, but some become more powerful than others due to the ability locked within the person's ego. This ability is known by some humans as 'the potential.' It was for this reason you were taken from your plain of existence to that world of which you speak. As for _who_ or _what_ took you there, it is not an easy question to answer. Even if I new it, it would likely be beyond your comprehension."

Were it anyone else, Ryan would've been offended by that response. "What is 'the potential'?"

"It is a great strength within a person's mind which takes a form befitting the mind to which it belongs. Its power comes from and is greatly affected by the mind of its wielder. Like the person themselves it can be kind or cruel. Think of it as a mask worn by the ego to protect itself; you too are now in possession of one such mask. Whether you shall wear it or not is up to you." There was still much he didn't understand about what Philemon said, but he suspected that was because, as Philemon had told him, it was beyond his understanding.

"Time grows short and we still have much to discuss. Though I am, under normal circumstances forbidden to interact with humanity as I have with you, these are far from normal circumstances. The threat which your world faces will affect more and more people as time goes on, but you can stop it."

Ryan's eyes widened, "This will happen again to someone else? How long has this been happening? And what do you mean 'I can stop it'?"

"The attack you suffered was the first one of which I became aware, but it will be repeated. I have done all I can so that I could assist you; only you, with your new power can truly put an end to them."

"Power..?"

"Surely you've noticed a change in your mind? Does it not all seem clearer? Are your thoughts not moving at twice the speed they had before this happened? You have achieved what some people call 'enlightenment'."

"Enlightenment?" Ryan repeated in surprise.

"Yes," Philemon stopped speaking for a moment before continuing, "it seems we have run out of time. More will be explained to you at the next opportunity to do so; this will not have been the last time we meet. For now, enjoy your new state of mind and make good use of it. This is the chance you have been waiting for, Ryan."

The use of his name did not go unnoticed, nor did his advice. Ryan smiled appreciatively to Philemon. "Thank you, I will! I promise!" he shouted as his vision blurred and suddenly went black.

* * *

Most people probably wouldn't have a smile on their face when they wake up on the floor; but it had become quite clear to Ryan that he wasn't like most people; and at this time, that couldn't bother him less. He got up quickly and ran upstairs to get ready for the day. He walked into the en suite and, after showering, noticed something in the mirror. He moved closer to it, puzzled by the sight. His once blue eyes had turned grey. After staring at himself for a while he smirked, _"__I'm sure it's symbolic in some way", _and continued getting ready. He spotted the Star of David on his desk, and immediately put it on. _"As a reminder. Thank you, grand dad."_ He suddenly became very aware of the time, which had drawn closer to the time for his train. He grabbed his bag and dashed out of the building with the grace of a stampeding rhinoceros.

The train was now in sight, he made one last push to the doors as the announcer droned on about the train's imminent departure, which Ryan found oddly easy to understand. The doors now began to close, slowly sliding shut as Ryan sprinted and just barely slipped between the two panels and kept running until crashing down onto the seats on the opposite side of the carriage. The other commuters within the carriage stared as he began to laugh cheerfully at his success.

Ryan walked into his classroom with a calm air; he'd messed up last time, -completely- and he would slowly make up for it. He walked coolly to his chair, ignoring some of his stares and dispelling others with quick glances at the observers and sat down at his desk. He looked beside him, the girl, Shizune if he recalled correctly, was looking in front of her. Her hair covered almost all of her face from his view. Beside her were a gang of boys which Ryan was about ready to label as 'dickheads'. The biggest one, presumably there 'leader', had overly-sharp, spiked hair and wore a black coat. He was currently laughing with the two guys in front of him about something which had to be the funniest thing that'd ever happened to warrant their obnoxious cackling. From the numerous new classes Ryan had had to join, he'd learnt how to identify the trouble-makers in a class from the way they looked and these guys matched his observations. No one really stood out amongst the other people in front of him; the one advantage to sitting in a corner like this was that you could watch the whole class without having to turn around and make it obvious that you were doing so.

It wasn't long until the bell for lunch rang, just in time to interrupt a teacher about to hand out homework. Ryan began to ponder what to do for lunch with nothing packed and no idea where the lunch area was until he noticed a shadow cover his desk. Looking up he saw a smiling girl with shortish red hair, green eyes and a perhaps-too-friendly smile. "'Sup new kid?" she asked, her voice oozing enthusiasm.

"Hello," Ryan plainly responded, unable to think of any other possible reply.

"You don't know anyone here, right? Then how about you come and have lunch with us?" she offered, clearly getting excited over what his answer would be.

"Us?" he enquired with an exaggerated suspicious look.

"Yeah, me and the rest of the fencing team," she answered, looking away with a smile which made Ryan smirk.

"Sent to recruit the large foreign boy before anyone else got a hold of him, were we?" he asked, chuckling lightly.

"Maybe~…" she said, dragging on the 'may' part a bit too long, "But I thought you'd be easier prey than this after the other day; you seem a lot less timid now," she remarked cheerfully.

"Oh, so it was more like exploiting the shy child who would probably not refuse?" he inquired with playful grin.

"Stop assuming the worst of us!" she cried flamboyantly, "Think of it more like a chance to have lunch with a cute girl! No reason to refuse that, right?" Ryan suspected she was starting to get desperate.

"Hmm," he closed his eyes and held his right hand over his chin. When he opened them he saw the biggest puppy-eyes on which he'd ever laid his eyes. "Well, when you say it like that…" he imagined the girl having dog ears, perking up as he said so, "Alright."

"Awesome! Let's go!" she screamed, grabbing Ryan's arm and lifting him up off his chair.

"You know, you never told me what your name was," Ryan said as he was dragged down the hall at a frantic pace.

"Oh right, I'm Takamichi Asuho; you can just call me Asuho," she gasped, not slowing down at all. "We're almost there!" They turned a corner and there it was: the canteen. "They should be here somewhere…" She looked left and right, still holding Ryan's arm in an uncomfortable grip. "Ah! Over here!" she shouted, once again dragging Ryan along with her at break-neck speed. "Hey guys! Look what I have!" she announced to the table, occupied by three boys; two wearing a different uniform, indicating that they were first-years.

The three looked up at her, seemingly unfazed by her sudden interruption of their conversation. "Who's the big guy?" the older one asked right away. He was tall (compared to the rest of the people in this school) and had short, bleached hair and green eyes.

"This is Ryan, uh... something or other; he's gonna be joining us for lunch and might be joining our team," Asuho answered with a beaming smile.

"Lyan, huh? Do you fight like one?" the second year asked with a grin.

"…Like a what?" Ryan asked, confused.

"Like a lion. That's your name, right?" He asked, before erupting into laughter, the others joining him. Ryan was unimpressed with the stupid pronunciation pun. It only made him sound incredibly stupid to him.

"It is pronounced 'Ryan'," he informed after the boy had calmed himself.

"Same dif; how old are you Lion? My name's Tashi, by the way." he asked as Ryan and Asuho sat down across from him and one of the other boys.

"Sixteen, but I am in second year."

"Eh!? You're a year younger than me? Did you take growth hormones or something? You're even tall for a foreigner."

"Which is why he'd be great for the team!" Asuho exclaimed, saving Ryan from the uncomfortable probing. "Speaking of which, how about you come with us to the P.E hall after school? We're having like an introductory thing for all the first years; I'm sure you could come too! We're gonna try really hard this year to make it into the regionals and I've a good feeling about this year!"

"Quite confident that I will be joining the team, are we not?"

"Why else would you come here?"

"Well, one: my options were rather limited once you grabbed onto me; and two: I thought this was just a chance to 'have lunch with a cute girl,'" Ryan answered, smiling at the reactions of the other three. The two juniors laughed at Asuho's expense as Tashi looked strangely at Asuho.

"Seriously? That's what you told him?" asked Tashi, sounding unamused.

"Well… it worked, didn't it?" Asuho said, looking away whilst scratching the back of her neck.

After more chat, break ended. Ryan and Asuho returned to their classroom, and they started work on what was affectionately named 'naptime' by Ryan and referred to begrudgingly by the rest of the class as English.

With his head on his desk, he let his mind drift back to what had happened to him when he returned from school two days ago. Philemon had said he was 'brought' into that grey dormitory. What could have done something like that? What was Philemon, for that matter? Was he God, or _a_ god? What did he mean when he said Ryan had achieved enlightenment? Did it involve the sudden ease with which he spoke to everyone today? Ryan believed that, had Asuho approached him on his first day here, his behaviour would have been quite different. Perhaps he could do some research into these questions…

Ryan was brought out of his thoughts by a quiet, high-pitched squeak. He opened his eyes and saw his neighbour, Shizune stand up from her desk. Ryan watched and listened in mild interest as the English teacher, a short plump woman, began her question.

"Please put these sentences in the past conditional as I write them on the board," she said in a dull, unenthusiastic tone as she turned around and began to scrawl the sentences in perhaps the worst hand Ryan had seen. Ryan looked around, noticing some relieved and pitying looks on the rest of the class and then looked up again at Shizune, who wore an expression of near-panic. The first sentence was now done: 'The man goes to work.' and the teacher was now almost finished with the second, yet Shizune hadn't uttered a word and it didn't seem like she was going to any time soon. Ryan looked to the teacher again: she was now starting on the third sentence and looked behind her once, noticing Shizune's silence. "Come on Shizune, at least make an effort," she said as she wrote on, sounding rather fed up. This had probably happened before, which led Ryan to wonder why she'd picked Shizune in the first place.

He once again looked to Shizune and decided he'd do something about this. "Would have gone," he whispered to her. She looked down to him, slight puzzlement making its way onto her startled expression. "The answer, it is 'The man would have gone to work,'" he told her, trying to speak as clearly and quietly as possible. Shizune slowly turned back towards the front of the class.

"Eh, t-the man… would have gone to work," she said, in a weak voice which made the other students look as though they were witnessing the collapse of a building. Next sentence: 'My friend is here.' "M-my friend would have been here," she said after some more assistance. She continued getting sentence after sentence correct, with Ryan somehow managing not to be discovered even by the other nearby students.

"Hmph, well done Shizune; I'm glad to see _someone_ decided to revise over the holidays," the teacher said before continuing with normal class, allowing Shizune to sit back down. She looked at Ryan to see him trying to fall asleep on his desk and decided to start paying attention; Ms. Hanamura liked picking whichever student looked like they were half-asleep.

It was after school and Ryan had agreed to go with Asuho to the P.E. hall. They walked in together and saw a geared-up senior talking to a crowd of first-years, explaining basic stuff like the types of swords and whatnot. "That's Nagasame Hisao; he's like the best on our team. The senior's didn't have lunch break today, so I couldn't introduce you earlier."

"Oh, good."

"What do you mean?"

"I was worried you and Tashi-san were the only members," he answered, receiving a punch from Asuho.

After being told many things Ryan already knew, they watched a match between Hisao and another senior and were asked for a volunteer to step up and try against another senior, as they had used less time than planned. No one stepped up. "Hey Lionheart, get up there and show us what you're like," said Tashi, who'd joined Asuho and Ryan shortly after they'd arrived. "You've done this before, right?"

"When I was twelve, in France; nothing like what they were doing up there," Ryan told him, not at all willing to take on his senior.

"Well, since no one's speaking up… Hey! How about you, tall guy?" the senior opponent called, looking at an unlucky foreigner, who may as well have had pink hair.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: The Hermit**

_Why is this happening? _Ryan thought as he stepped up onto the stage in full gear. In front of him stood his opponent: a senior by the name of Ken Tennouji. Though he stood over a head higher than him, Ryan was very intimidated by the boy, whom he'd just finished watching as he fought and barely lost to -supposedly- the best member here.

The two walked towards the middle and quickly shook hands before walking back towards the starting positions. Ryan had been given the choice of sword and had chosen sabres, as they were the type with which he had most experience. He wondered why he hadn't simply refused this challenge in which he held no hope for winning. It was probably his own fault though…

"**Hey, have you fought before?" Hisao, the captain, immediately asked once Ryan walked up to him. Ryan unfortunately hadn't been given the chance to back down right away thanks to Asuho's and Tashi's 'enthusiasm.'**

"**Well yes, I used to play when I was in France, but-"**

"**France!" Hisao shouted in surprise with a gleeful smile. "The home of fencing! You must be great if you were trained there!"**

"**No really, it was only for-" **

"**What sword did you practise with over there?" Hisao enquired, already opening a cabinet filled with blades.**

"**Uh, sabre, though I-" This was where he drove the final nail into his own coffin.**

"**Nice choice, that's what most of us use, too! Though the first years always start off with a foil," Hisao said as he handed the sword over. "Hold this for a sec while I get outta this suit," he muttered whilst he took off his gear, and then handed it to Ryan. "Already wired up and everything. You know how the scoring works, right?" **

**Ryan sighed in defeat, handed the sword back and began putting on the gear. "Yes…"**

Looking back on it, it wasn't his fault. It was that hyper-active Hisao who got a stiffy at the mention of a country who was responsible for this. "_Though there's hardly any use in complaining now. Might as well simply try to embarrass myself as little as possible…" _Ryan thought to himself. His legs had started to slightly shake as he took his stance.

"Ready? Go!"

_"Oh, bollocks…" _The pair quickly closed the distance between themselves and Ken wasted no time in attacking. Ryan expected him to act quickly, but still wasn't nearly fast enough to parry the strike to his shoulder.

"Hit!" Hisao announced, now wearing an intense frown on his face as he watched the game intently.

_"He takes this far too seriously," _Ryan thought as he returned to his starting position and got into what he believed was the proper stance. He knew he would lose; he knew he wouldn't score a solitary hit on his opponent; his memories of his brief practice years ago were far too hazy to be of good use.

"Ready? Go!"

This time, Ryan moved forward just as quickly as Ken did and planned on making the first move. This plan backfired when Ken took advantage of his poor guard and struck him first.

"Hit!"

At this point, the spectators who weren't new were all talking amongst themselves, Asuho and Tashi included.

"Guess Lionman's more of a pussy than I thought…" whispered Tashi, smirking at his own joke as he often did.

"Hey, don't make fun of him! I mean, don't you feel bad for sending him up there?" Asuho scolded, starting to feel guilty herself.

"Could've said no if he wanted."

Ryan proceeded to lose another two rounds, the score thankfully being only up to five. By now, the disappointment was clear as day on Hisao's face. "_Not my fault you were expecting so much…" _Ryan, though glad to know that this was almost finished, was himself disappointed and frustrated with how poorly this had gone. "_Why must I always be so useless?"_ he thought miserably to himself.

Suddenly, he felt something; he heard what sounded like the echo of shattering glass and much of his mind became indescribably clearer and sharper. _"__Thou art I…" _he heard: a gentle yet frightening whisper which, whilst he could tell would be terrifying to most, he found incredibly comforting. He looked into his memory as he made his way back once again to the starting position as slowly as he could and found his memories of his practice were now as if they had happened just the day before. That, however wasn't nearly as interesting as what else he found: he 'remembered' other things: things which he hadn't experienced at all. The details were foggy at best, but the sword in his hand suddenly felt like he had wielded it his entire life, even longer in fact, which felt as confusing as it sounds.

"Ready? Go!" Ryan was abruptly called out of his thoughts by the now-less-enthusiastic call of Hisao.

Ken rushed over to Ryan, keen on ending what had been, in his eyes, a waste of time. Ryan focused on him, breathing deeply and preparing himself; right now, he felt like no opponent could best him; he was the best swordsman in this room, in the world! He strengthened his grip on the sabre: a sword he'd wielded for millennia, with which he'd struck down thousands in the name of the Lord and with which he would easily best this fool.

Ken brought down his sword and a great 'CLANG!' reverberated across the room, waking all who'd lost interest, followed by a much quieter 'whack'. All eyes moved to the stage and were astonished to see Ryan's sabre resting on the shoulder of a now-unarmed Ken. One more clang was heard when Ken's sword finally hit the ground.

"Hi… hit."

Ryan's sabre slowly slid down Ken's shoulder before falling and hanging on Ryan's arm, gone limp. The silence slowly grew more uncomfortable until Ryan fell to his knees and threw of his headgear, coughing violently.

"Hey are you okay!?" Ken shouted, also removing his mask.

"Yes." Ryan managed to say between coughs. He eventually stopped and calmed down, now in a small ring of people with concerned expressions on their faces. "I just feel very weak," he said, slowly rising up from the ground. "I am alright," he repeated, dispelling most of the fear visible on those around him.

Asuho and Tashi then appeared out of the crowd. "What was that!?" Tashi yelled, his face was one of disgust.

"What?" Ryan asked, clearly confused.

"Dude, you were playing like a total beginner and then you pull a stunt like that? You think that's funny you little show off?" he accused more than asked.

"N-no, I-" Ryan started before being saved by Asuho.

"Tashi calm down! What's your problem!? So what if he's good, we need more good players in our year!"

"Why're you sticking up for him? He's clearly a complete jackass!"

"Why're you getting so mad about it?"

The others watching had no idea what to do during all of this. Some had already opted to simply leave, including some of the first years, who decided neither to join a club where they would have to go against a bunch of far superior seniors nor be with the two second-years -who continued to yell at each other- on a regular basis.

"Hey Ryan, I think you should come with me to the nurse's office," Ryan heard behind him. He saw that it was Hisao and was about to insist that he wasn't sick when he realised what he was really doing.

"Thank you very much," he said, truly grateful to be out of the unexpected dilemma. He left with Hisao, dumping his equipment on the ground as quickly as possible.

They walked down the corridor in a long, uncomfortable silence until Ryan spoke up. "Do they… Does that…"

"I'm as surprised as you," Hisao answered, "They're best friends; it's weird seeing them fight like that."

"…I see." Another silence drowned them, though it was eventually dispelled once Hisao worked up the courage to enquire.

"So, how _did_ that happen? I'm guessing it's not like Tashi said," he assumed, taking his gaze off of the wall next to him and looking into Ryan's eyes.

"I know not, I mean it just happened. I did not really… feel like myself there. It feels like it was all a dream now," Ryan replied, confused and now trying to work out for himself just what had occurred moments ago. "_What was I thinking back then? Something about… something that happened a long time ago?" _His memory failed him just as it would when trying to remember a dream shortly after waking up; he did however remember thoroughly enjoying doing what he had done, and was thankful for the mask he'd been wearing which concealed an immense grin.

"Huh, so like, how long did you say you practised before?"

"A few months," Ryan quickly answered -perhaps too casually- to get back to his pondering.

"Eeeeehh!? You did that with hardly any training?"

"Well yes, why do you think I was so rubbish until then?" he deadpanned in response.

Hisao stared at him for a while before laughing cheerfully. "Alright whatever! You're weird dude, but if you can do that again, you're **more** than welcome to our club!" he exclaimed, putting a friendly hand on Ryan's back. Whilst he didn't appreciate the comment, Ryan smiled back to Hisao.

"I am honoured."

* * *

After a short wait at the station, Ryan boarded a train headed towards his dorm. He looked around the car to see that there was only one seat left next to something bright and colourful. _"__It's that girl again. What did the teacher call her? Shizune? Damn, that's her first name; I can't use that."_ It suddenly occurred to Ryan that he was staring and Shizune was looking rather nervous. After a brief self-scolding, Ryan gathered his courage and sat beside her, also nervous. _"__Think of something quick, before it's too late!"_ He tried desperately to come up with a way of starting a conversation before the social time limit ran out, but was surprised when he was beaten to it.

"Thanks for the help. Today. In English." Shizune said, muttering the last two parts like separate sentences, all the while looking at the floor.

"Ah, you are welcome um…" Ryan mumbled, hoping that was enough to convey the trouble he was having.

"Yamagishi," Shizune quickly filled in. Her speech was rather fast-paced and hard, for Ryan, with which to keep up.

"You are most welcome, Yamagishi-san." Ryan on the other hand was the complete opposite. He spoke clearly, carefully and deliberately, though still tainted with a clearly foreign accent. He also used very formal Japanese at all times, making his sentences drag on even longer, but helping him to avoid making mistakes.

The two then decided to remain quiet. Ryan was satisfied enough to have her name and concluded that there was simply nothing about which they could talk, thinking it best not to make the silence awkward for himself. Shizune just seemed to be a woman of few words, which he could appreciate after spending break and time after school with Asuho.

After a while, the train slowed once again and Shizune looked up, remaining seated for a while before seemingly reaching a decision to speak up once more. "My stop's here. Bye Eiderman," she said, standing up.

"Goodbye, Yamagishi," Ryan barely managed to call before she scampered out of the train, clutching her bag in to her chest.

* * *

It was only a few more minutes before Ryan arrived back at his lonely dormitory. He walked over to the couch in the lounge, dropped his bag on the floor and fell onto the couch. Closing his eyes, he reflected on the day's events: primarily those after school, though once again he could not recall what had been going through his mind near the end. Having given up on that, he wondered what he should think about Tashi's reaction. "_I suppose he was jealous? From his point of view, it must have looked like I was faking the first four losses… I guess I might not be welcome to their table tomorrow…" _He felt rather saddened by that thought; he'd believed he was beginning to make friends here.

During Ryan's brooding, a window near the front door suddenly burst open with a squealing gust of wind rushing in. Ryan jumped and lifted his head towards it and watched as the wind carried in a blue butterfly, instantly ceasing once it had made its way into the room. As the window somehow slid back into the closed position, the butterfly fluttered over to Ryan then flew off to the stairs.

"Philemon!" Ryan jumped off the couch and ran after it. The butterfly turned the corner at the top of the stairs and flew out of sight towards the end of the second-floor hallway. When Ryan turned that same corner, he saw not a butterfly, but a glowing, blue door on the far wall, where there had once been a window. _"__What the…" _Ryan slowly walked to the door, stopping in front of it. He stared at the doorknob and began to hesitantly reach out to it. Once his fingers tipped it, he instantly felt his mind begin to melt and his vision fade to black.

He was flying again. He circled the chessboard on which Philemon patiently waited for him before landing in front of him and transforming back from the luminous moth of his consciousness to his human form.

"Welcome back, Ryan," he began, seemingly studying the boy before him, "I see you've experienced the first signs of your awakening."

"You mean what happened to me after school? Could you explain that to me please?" Ryan asked, sounding slightly desperate to hear the answer.

"Do you recall what I told you about your new 'mask'?"

"Well… I thought you said it was up to me whether or not I would use it: it seemed to just… take over."

"Not all actions are conscious; whether you were aware of it or not, you wished to hide behind a mask at that moment; and so you did: the mask of your persona," Philemon spoke ominously, catching Ryan's interest.

_"So it was because I was embarrassed, or scared? Wait…" _"Persona?"

"Though your memory may not be clear, did you not feel like you were both yourself and someone else? That someone else was your persona: the mask you will be wielding to assist me."

"I still don't understand that part: in what way would I be able to help you with this? I don't think I'll be able to stop people's shadows from attacking them like you did for me," he admitted.

"You must try, and if that fails, then will be the time to wear your mask. When a person rejects their shadow in a direct confrontation such as you had with yours, it transforms into…" he pondered what words he should use for his explanation, holding his chin with his gloved hand, "A monster, more or less. At that point, it will be your job to defeat it back into submission and find a way to make the person accept it."

"And… if they don't?" Ryan asked.

"…It will transform again, perhaps stronger than the last time." By now, Ryan looked like he was listening to a prediction of his own death. "Hopefully, it won't come to such a dire situation; if your shadow had transformed and someone had to save you, would you not think it wise to listen to that person and do as they told?" Philemon reasoned.

"I suppose…" he replied, "So what now? We wait until another person is captured? Is someone already captured and that's why you've called me?" he asked.

"So far I've not detected any activity in the Grey World. We will have to begin preparing for when I do," Philemon answered.

"You mean training? Am I going back there?"

"No," Philemon quickly responded, folding his arms before continuing, "You'll not be going back until absolutely necessary; it's important that you use your true power for the first time when it is needed."

"And why's that?"

"It is difficult to explain to you at the moment; let's just say I'm saving something for an emergency." Though it was impossible to tell, Ryan was certain Philemon was smiling behind his mask, assuming he had a face behind it in the first place.

"Okay, what else is there to do?"

"You will need to secure a weapon for yourself. Do you know anywhere whence you might be able to acquire one?"

"Well, there's… the fencing club I suppose. But I'm not even a real member and even if I were, I doubt they'd let me take one," he informed.

"Perfect, that will do."

"Wait, you're not suggesting I try to rob one thence, are you?" he asked, afraid of the inevitable 'Of course' he would get.

"Of course not," Philemon answered, knowing what Ryan had been thinking and enjoying his reaction, "I have a much better idea. Would you be able to walk to that place hence?" Philemon enquired mysteriously.

"I think so…" Ryan answered unconvincingly, "It would take quite a while as it's pretty far from hence."

"Good, we should have the time necessary to make our preparations. For now, simply be ready for my arrival at all times. Do not stray farther than you must from The Door for now," Philemon instructed, unfolding his arms, "That is all you need to know at the moment. I advise you to familiarise yourself with the area around you as much as you can; it will be your field of operations as my agent in the Grey World."

"You mean that place is like a copy of the city? Like how I was in what looked my dorm?"

"Precisely, good luck back in your world, Ryan. I will contact you the moment I need to," he called out to Ryan as he began floating away from the floating square yet again.

Ryan then found himself once again standing in front of the door in the hallway, his hand now grasping firmly on the handle. He let go, feeling quite light-headed and stepped back from the door, holding his forehead. He walked back to the lounge and checked the time on his phone: he had spent roughly twenty minutes in Philemon's realm; most of that time had presumably been before and after his short conversation with Philemon himself. _"__He always seems to be in a rush to get rid of me…" _Ryan thought when he realised he still had some questions left unanswered. As it was only ten-to-five, he decided to try a walk around town, as Philemon had advised.

* * *

Returning to the dorm, he went up to his room to properly sort out his luggage. Besides clothes, his luggage consisted mainly of phrasebooks, encyclopaedias and other such tomes that most would not expect to see outside of a library. He'd also brought a rather low-end computer with him. Having gotten everything sorted, he logged onto his computer, got the internet set up and began looking into whatever came to mind, ranging from personae to split personalities to other worlds. His search on Philemon yielded the only noteworthy results; including some real-life people and characters in media, Philemon was apparently a 'spirit guide' featured in 'The Red Book' written by a famous psychotherapist called Carl Jung around one hundred years ago. The page on which he found this information also briefly mentioned a group called 'The Philemon Foundation,' apparently working on publishing Jung's complete works.

'_Spirit guide' eh? Sounds about right._

Ryan continued to spend time on the internet, now browsing less educational websites, until he realised that he hadn't started his homework, panicking slightly, he rushed downstairs and spent the rest of the night on it.

* * *

Ryan woke up feeling very tired the next morning. He got ready and dragged himself to the train station. On the train, Shizune walked into his car.

"Good morning, Yamagishi," Ryan greeted as she walked by him. Shizune stopped and looked at him with a blank expression.

"Morning. Eideruman," she responded before moving over to an empty seat near the other end of the mostly-empty car.

The two walked to school separately and no more words were shared between them.

* * *

At break, Asuho approached Ryan before he could walk from his desk. "Hey…" she started nervously, "Look, I'm sorry about what happened yesterday. I have no idea what got into Tashi there but he says he's really sorry about it so, don't think he's still mad at you, 'kay?"

Though Ryan could tell Asuho wanted him to join them for lunch again, he felt he shouldn't risk making things more awkward for their group unless Tashi came to him himself. "Thank you for letting me know, Asuho, but I think I will go somewhere on my own today," he said with what he hoped was a friendly smile.

"But-" she began before being interrupted.

"Do not worry, I will definitely see you at fencing practice the week after next; I told Hisao to sign me up yesterday. I just want to scout around the school. Goodbye," he said, turning around and walking away and out of the classroom. _"__Yeah right… I wonder if she saw right through that or she'll figure it out later…" _he thought, walking down the hall towards the canteen at a quick pace to prevent her from catching up to him.

Whilst queuing for lunch, he saw three boys force their way into the line, near the front. _"__No matter what school or country, there are always people like that…" _he complained, knowing it was always best not to make a big deal out of something small like this. Eventually, he got his lunch and left the canteen, deciding he actually would wander the school as he'd said he would.

* * *

Minutes later, the first bell rang, indicating that there were five minutes left before the start of class; and Ryan realised something: he was lost. He'd underestimated the scope of the building and wandered off without taking note of his route and was now paying the price. He picked a direction and followed it; when that produced no results, he changed direction. This went on and on for what seemed like a long time to Ryan without him finding a single familiar corridor, but then he found a bright beacon of hope. Ryan sighed in relief, _"__Thank you, Shizune." _He proceeded to follow her on what he hoped was the way back to their classroom and was considering catching up to her to start a conversation when the three boys from earlier walked into the same hallway from around a corner on the right-hand side.

"Oh, 'sup Shiz?" greeted one of them, a lanky boy who wore an unfriendly grin much like those of the other two.

"Hi," she responded quickly and tensely, walking towards the left side of the corridor and picking up her pace.

"Oy, why so rude?" asked another of the boys, sounding very displeased. This one was shorter and pudgier and had stepped in front of her. The third one stepped beside the pudgy one: he was of average height and stature with unusually-spiked hair that drooped down without covering any of the front of his face. He remained silent whilst the other two continued bothering Shizune.

"What do you want?" Shizune asked, raising her voice slightly, though still hardly loud compared to that of other people.

"We just wanna talk to ya, you're the one bein' weird here," answered the lanky one.

"I don't wanna talk. I've to go to class," she responded, moving to the side to get around the two. They moved with her.

Ryan couldn't see her expression, but she sounded to him like these guys were _not_ at all acquainted with her. He began to walk up to them.

"Screw class," the lanky one said, standing right beside her, "It's no wonder you haven't got any friends with an attitude like that." He and the others began to chuckle obnoxiously at that: the final straw for Ryan.

"Hey!" he roared, having finally caught up to them all. The three noticed him for the first time and looked his way with frowns.

"The hell do you want, ya big freak?" asked the chubby boy, stepping forward with the quiet one. The three were now all standing about a metre and a half in front of him; Ryan towered over them all, the tallest one only halfway up his neck in height. Though Ryan wasn't the most built boy where he was from, his naturally larger-than-average size helped him brush off the attempt at intimidation easily.

"Yamagishi clearly wants not to talk to any of you. I think you should leave her alone," he firmly spoke. The tall one, whom Ryan now worked out to be the 'leader', snickered at him.

"What the hell is this? You goin' out with this loner or somethin'?" he asked, looking back at Shizune, who stood there, astonished.

"And if I am!?" Ryan interrogated, taking a gamble and raising his voice whilst walking right up to the group. The quiet one was the first to look away, the others soon following.

"Alright, whatever man. Have fun trying to get a word out of her," said the leader, sounding more like he were giving up out of boredom than fear. He walked off the way whence Ryan and Shizune had come with a loud 'tch', the other two close behind him.

Ryan calmed down and noticed how much his heart had been pounding throughout the whole ordeal. He let out a deep breath and looked to Shizune, who looked like she was trying to figure out just what had happened a few moments ago.

"Em, are you okay?" Ryan asked awkwardly in the odd noiselessness in which the two had been surrounded.

"Y-yeah. Fine," Shizune responded, staring at Ryan.

"Good…" Ryan stood silent, trying desperately to think of something else to do or say when he was saved by the final bell for breaktime. "Oh, we will be late for class," he pointed out needlessly.

"Right."

The two walked without conversation for about thirty uncomfortable seconds before Shizune could take it no longer. "T-thanksforhelpingme," she blurted out all at once. Ryan fortunately managed to make out the thanks at the start, though.

"Ah, you are welcome," he responded, "Do… does that happen… often?" he asked, hoping it wasn't a bad question to ask.

"Sometimes. They're like that all the time. Not just with me," she answered, nervously. "They're…" Though she didn't finish the sentence, Ryan assumed from her tone that she wanted to call them something rude.

Thinking it best to change the subject, he asked "So what were you doing at break today?" trying to avoid the more blunt question of 'Why were you on your own?' to which he believed he knew the answer.

Shizune seemed surprised by the question, perhaps not expecting small-talk. "…Nothing much. Just had lunch and walked around. Uh, you?" she asked back, unsure of herself.

"Well, I got a little lost," he answered, giving an embarrassed chuckle in an attempt to sound more welcoming. "I saw you and assumed you knew the way to class and then you know the rest."

"You don't know the way to class?" Shizune asked, to which Ryan shook his head slowly. "I've been following you this way…" she said before looking behind her, making a small squeak when she realised that they'd passed the door into their classroom. She dashed towards it, Ryan alongside her smiling stupidly. They walked in to find that the teacher -for whatever reason- still hadn't arrived and sat in their chairs at the back of the room.

Ryan was quite happy then; he had had an unexplainable desire to talk with Shizune from his first day here, yet always felt a barrier between himself and her: a barrier which he believed he'd reduced slightly that day.

* * *

When school ended, Asuho said goodbye to Ryan, still not wanting them to fall out of contact with each other and ran quickly out the door. Ryan picked up his bag and turned to Shizune, who'd just stood up from her desk.

"Excuse me, Yamagishi?" he called for her attention.

"Yes?" she replied, looking surprised as she always did whenever Ryan first spoke to her.

"Since we seem to take the same train home, would you mind if I walk to the station with you?" he asked, trying as hard as he could not to sound nervous. _"__That mask thing might have been useful for this…" _he thought.

"Uh, sure. If you want," she said to her feet.

The two walked down the short trip to the station and waited briefly for their train, not saying anything during which.

Ryan was beginning to get used to this: though he was still the one who broke their silence on the train.

"So Yamagishi, you do not live in a dorm, do you?" he enquired, as she had always left the train a few stops before him.

"N-no, I live with my parents," she answered.

"Ah, I see," he responded plainly, "...I actually live in the co-ed dorm away from the others. Do you know of it?"

"You mean the empty one? I thought that wasn't used," she said, now sounding genuinely interested in the conversation.

Ryan, more than glad to talk, informed "It was not until I arrived; I am actually the only the one there."

"You've a whole dorm to yourself?" she asked, seemingly fantasising about what that would be like.

Ryan laughed at her behaviour, "It is not as good as it might sound, I assure you. It gets pretty lonely, you know?" he said, his tone not as cheery at the end.

"Oh, I guess, yeah," she replied, coming back to reality. After a short while, she looked out the window and spoke up again: "I'm getting off here. Bye Eider, Eidelly, Ei-"

"If it is too hard to say, I have no problem with you calling me Ryan," he interrupted with an amused smile. Shizune was now looking quite embarrassed.

"Bye, Ryan…" she spoke, much more slowly than her usual frantic speed.

"Goodbye, Yamagishi," he said in response. Shizune walked out of the train with a complicated expression on her face. When she was gone and the train was once again in motion, Ryan allowed himself the big smile he'd been holding back. _"__Today… was a good day."_

* * *

"Welcome back, Ryan. How may I help?" asked Philemon after Ryan had entered The Door without being summoned.

"I need to know some things," Ryan replied matter-of-factly.

"Very well, but I must warn you that I will soon not be able to speak with you this often," Philemon spoke.

"Why not?" was Ryan's immediate question.

"It simply will no longer be in my power to do so."

"I see... well first, with all due respect, what are you, Philemon?"

"The simplest answer for that would be a phenomenon," Philemon began, eliciting a look of confusion from Ryan, "I was created of humanity's desire for progress and prosperity. As such, I want nothing more than to protect humanity in any way that I can. Being a supernatural being, I can work most effectively on matters of a supernatural nature, with limited influence on the material world. Does that answer your question?"

"I see… yes it does," Ryan said, surprised by how well Philemon had answered and satisfied his curiosity. "Okay, other than that, why do you need me to help? Why can't you save every person yourself?"

"Well, that wouldn't be very practical in the long term. If I just told everyone to accept their shadows and left them we'd never get to the source of the problem. Even more, I can't contact every person who enters the Grey World; henceforth, you're the only mortal capable of perceiving my existence."

"What? Why's that?"

"As with your first question, it's not in my power anymore. It's a sort of limit imposed upon me from higher up, but the details are complicated and irrelevant," Philemon spoke, brushing off any further questioning.

"Okay, I suppose that's it for now."

"Very well, be prepared Ryan," he warned as Ryan watched the chessboard and Philemon get smaller and smaller.

* * *

The next morning was as quiet as the last. Shizune didn't join him on the train that day.

Nor was she in class when he arrived.

Nor did she show up that day.

When the bell rang for break, Ryan wasn't sure about how he should feel. _Philemon said he'd come as soon as he noticed anything; she's just sick or something, _he tried and failed to convince himself. By the time Asuho arrived at his desk, he couldn't take it any longer. "Asuho, could please tell the teacher that I am feeling terribly sick and have to return home? Thank you!" he quickly requested before sprinting out of the classroom.

"…Huh?" She stood still, completely flabbergasted. "_But it's Saturday…"_

Ryan sat at the train station impatiently waiting for a train to arrive. When one did, he saw a familiar blue glow from within. _"Quickly!" _he heard in his head. He sprinted onto the train, delighted to see but one person on-board with a large pair of headphones on. The butterfly, Philemon, landed on Ryan's right shoulder.

"Shizune's there isn't she?" Ryan immediately asked urgently.

"_I know not the person, but there's definitely a split ego in the Grey World."_

"A-are we really ready for this?" Ryan asked, suddenly immensely anxious.

"_Fear not, you will be more than capable of handling this: I promise."_

"If you say so…" he said, completely unconvinced and now panting.

"_Try to remain calm, Ryan. Focus on your objective and don't think about anything else. You're here to find the person who has been taken, make them accept their shadow by any means necessary and bring them back to this world." _

Ryan didn't like the sound of the second part. "Alright, I'll try but… I don't really know anything about her. I've no idea what her shadow's going to say." Suddenly, it hit him that he would be seeing her darkest thoughts: her own version of what had happened to him. He couldn't imagine what it would've been like if someone else had been watching when he was in the Grey World.

"_Don't think about that," _Philemon said authoritatively, _"What you are going to see is irrelevant to your mission; no matter what, you must make sure the ego is unified and the person rescued."_

"Alright."

Ryan arrived at the dorm. He sprinted up the stairs, Philemon fluttering beside him and ran to The Door. Upon touching it, his vision was covered in a blinding light and once it dispersed, he was still in the dorm. But the dorm had changed; it was now completely devoid of colour.

"N-now what?"

"_We must get you a weapon. Time grows short; go to the club of which you spoke now!"_

"Okay!" Ryan roared as he took off and ran in the direction of the school.

It took a long time to get their by foot, but Ryan eventually could see the great school before him. "Philemon… why amn't I… as tired as I should be?" Ryan asked between gasps as he continued to run at top speed, having not slowed down the entire journey.

"_As a persona user you can make use of the many energies floating around in worlds like this."_ Philemon quickly explained. _"It won't stop you from tiring indefinitely, but you'll be much more physically capable here than you are in your world."_

Not bothering with a response, Ryan kept running, making his way into the school and into the room of the fencing club.

"_Take a sword. As you'll notice, this world has some minor differences from yours." _

Ryan opened the unlocked cabinet and instantly understood what he meant: the swords were real. He took a sabre without question and began running out of the school. "Where am I going? Where is she?"

"_Follow my instructions; I'll lead you to them." _

Ryan felt like he'd been running forever. To make matters worse, he'd begun to feel like he was being watched from all directions, which didn't help his nerves whatsoever.

"_They won't attack you," _Philemon informed, having the opposite effect that was intended.

"You mean there really is something out there!?" Ryan shouted, gasping for breath.

"_Don't worry about them." _Ryan did as he was told. _"Stop!"_

Ryan stopped. He was standing in front of a rather large house in an estate just outside of town. "Here?" Ryan enquired, catching his breath.

"_Judging from your case, this is most likely where she was when she was captured."_

"So, this is probably her house…" Ryan had now recovered from his running and took the first step towards the house.

"_Ryan," _Philemon stopped him, _"Be ready for anything; this isn't any house you're walking into, it's somewhere important to the victim, thus it will reflect that person's feelings towards it."_

"…Okay." He once again started walking to the house, reached the front door, tightened his grip on his sword and took a deep breath. _Persona… I need you right now. _He opened the grey door.

Inside was nothing like he'd expected. It was dark, not helped by the lack of colour, and vast and empty. The whole place was literally just a massive cube of grey brick, somehow larger than the exterior of the house. In the centre was a huge metal cage, the bars of which were covered with outward-facing spikes and inside which sat "Yamagishi!" Ryan ran to the cage.

"_Wait, Ryan! Wait!" _Philemon called, falling slightly behind. Ryan ignored him and continued running, eventually reaching the cage.

Ryan saw Shizune sitting on the metal floor of her cage, holding her knees to her face. "Yamagishi!" he called to get her attention.

"R-Ryan?" she whispered, her voice sounding hoarse. She looked up and Ryan saw her face. She looked miserable: her eyes were terribly bloodshot and her expression was one of despair and exhaustion.

"Do not worry, Yamagishi! I am here to save you!" he shouted, inspecting the cage to find a way of opening it when he heard what sounded like mad cackling coming from within the cage. Ryan looked back to see a terrified Shizune… and another, smirking Shizune.

"What the fuck is this?" it asked with a devious smile. "You came for me? You _really_ don't wanna leave me alone, do you?"

"What?" was all Ryan could say.

"Oh come on, didn't you get that I didn't want you to talk to me?" it asked as it walked towards him, going right through the bars of the cage. "I only didn't say anything 'cause I'm too chickenshit to do it."

"You… didn't…"

"I don't want _anyone_ to say _anything _to me. I fucking _hate_ it when someone like you comes along!" it screamed, losing its grin immediately and replacing it with a look of intense rage. "You think you're so fucking special, huh? Sooner or later, everyone who tries with me gives up and moves on to someone more tolerable! I know that! I've accepted that, but assholes like you refuse to just ignore me like everyone else!"

Ryan couldn't believe his ears. Never in his life would he have imagined Shizune felt this way. Sure, he knew almost nothing about her, but this was just so…

"_It's pitiful," _Philemon said as one would say about the weather, _"She's given up on the world around her, or so she may think. Worry not, Ryan, a shadow is and always will be but a part of a person's collective unconscious. These feelings, though powerful, will never fully dictate her behaviour. For better or for worse, we must return the shadow to her ego; it is the only way to save her life. Do you understand?"_

Ryan didn't want to understand; he didn't want to see this part of the cute, shy girl from his class, but there was no use in complaining now: Philemon, his saviour, had given him a job and he would do it. "I understand," he whispered to Philemon.

"Still here?" the shadow yelled, getting impatient, "Let me make it a bit simpler for you: Fuck. Off. You. Ass. Hole. Got it? Can't you tell that all I want is to rot in that cage? What's so wrong about that huh?"

"No! Don't listen to it! Please help me Ryan!" shouted Shizune with a jaded, throaty voice.

The shadow put on a fake sad expression and shook her head sarcastically. "Poor girl: she's afraid of what she really wants. Keeps clinging to the hope that someone won't get bored of her when she knows deep down it'll never happen."

"That's not true…" she whispered, starting to sob. Ryan just had no idea what to do. All he knew right now was that this shadow was tormenting Shizune and he hated it for it.

"_Now is the time to make your decision; you must either try to reason with Shizune, or let it get out of control and defeat it in battle." _

"I-I don't know what to do! What can I say here?"

"_You must try something!"_

"It's the truth and you know it! I'm saying it to your face, so don't lie to mine; you'll just be lying to yourself! I'm you after all, right?"

"Yamagishi, please listen to it!" Ryan shouted to her. Shizune stared back at him.

"…What?" she croaked.

"This has also happened to me! I know what it is like, but this thing is just a small part of you! But it will only get bigger if you do not acknowledge its existence!"

"No… No, no."

"Please Yamagishi!"

"Noooo, it's not true…" she tried to yell, falling to the floor, "She… she's not me!"

"_Ryan! Get back right now!" _Philemon boomed in his head; he had no choice but to comply. _"It's too late; you'll have to awaken your power; it's going to transform!"_

The shadow started cackling madly again with a disturbing smile, made all the more morbid by its being in the likeness of such a quiet girl. It actually got to the stage where Ryan had to cover his ears. A thick, purple smoke covered the floor, swirling towards the shadow.

"What's happening!?"

"_The shadow is transforming! Ready your sword, Ryan! The battle is here and now!"_

Ryan watched the area, now covered in the smoke, where the shadow once stood. He began to see claws and arms reaching out the smoke.

"What are they!?"

"_Lesser shadows! They'll do whatever the split ego orders them to, namely try to kill you!"_

Ryan thought he couldn't handle this, he thought he would just collapse right now due to the sheer absurdity of this situation and wake up, back on the train on his first day here, but that never happened. He was awake and he was in danger. That thought suddenly made something click: yes, he was in peril, facing an otherworldy threat and needed the power to defend himself…

The great smoke dispersed, revealing a legion of dark, disgusting creatures, some taking the forms of animals, some of humans, machines and some looked simply ridiculous. At the centre of all this was the cause: a slender, robed, hooded figure; the face of whom was shrouded in pitch black, hidden from any outside party like it always wanted.

It let out an ear-shattering scream, exciting the horde around it, but Ryan stood, fearless, for he had something much more powerful than an army: he had a power that no army could halt, a force unstoppable. He had death on his side.

_Thou art I… _

"And I am thou…" Ryan said back.

_Thou wieldest my power as thine own._

"Thou takest my body as thine own."

_Open thine eyes and release me._

"Open thine heart and embrace me, Samael…" Glass, which was already littered with cracks, shattered completely. A huge torrent of power escaped Ryan's mind and fell into his hand in the shape of a simple, white mask with a large, black XIII as its design. The horde ran out of patience and charged. Ryan wasn't far away; Shizune looked on in terror, sure that he would be torn to shreds.

Ryan just smiled, staring at his mask as they approached. _"It is time, Ryan. This is your power, your true strength. Show it to them."_

Though he showed no sign of acknowledging what Philemon said, Ryan began to raise the mask to his face, still smiling like he'd gone insane. As the mask neared his face, he whispered "Per…so…na…"

The mask made contact and immediately latched on to his head, his whole face became engorged by it, replacing it and all its features with the black 'XIII' it bore. The first shadow arrived; it was in the shape of an empty suit of armour with a mask floating in place of a head. It raised a giant axe and brought it down on Ryan, Shizune covered her eyes, not able to bear the sight of death, but the axe was stopped by Ryan's sword, held over him protectively. No teenager could stop even another human wielding such a heavy weapon, with one arm no less, but Ryan wasn't just a teenager anymore.

Around his sword arm swirled a snake-like shape made of what looked like a mixture of jet-black sand and pitch-black smoke. The serpentine substance slithered around his arm like a boa constrictor, erupting out from his back and somehow entering his hand. Ryan grunted before effortlessly forcing the axe to the side and slashing horizontally, right through the shadow. As it began to melt, Ryan picked up the massive axe it had dropped and flung it into the crowd of approaching shadows, instantly killing many. Two of the nearer ones reached him; one was like a lion and the other a minotaur. Ryan stabbed the lion in the head when it tried to pounce on him, the sabre piercing it all the way to the back of its skull. He then immediately jumped out the way before the minotaur could crush him under its fists. Ryan wasted no time in running to its lowered face and thrusting his sabre deep into its head. Both arms now surrounded in the thick, black smoke, he used them to drag the sword through the shadow's cranium and cut it open. It soon dissolved.

Ryan looked around him to see that he was surrounded. The shadows circled him, now wary of approaching him, despite the robed shadow's incessant howling. Ryan was quick to act: he raised his unarmed hand above his head; the black smoke emerged from his palm and spiralled around him all the way to the ground. He called deeply with all his strength. "SAMAEL!"

The smoke converged and broke out in a huge cloud above him; the cloud rapidly changed shape into that of an angel. He wore a pure black robe; had unkempt, golden hair, black, feathered wings and his face, hands and feet, uncovered by the robe, were studded with half-open, grey eyes just like Ryan's. Samael raised his hand in the same fashion as Ryan and on the ground appeared glowing violet marks like a magic-circle. A sound, which distilled pure terror in Shizune rang throughout the huge room, like a distorted church bell, and up from the ground rose flames of deep shades of purple, grey and black. The shadows roared as they burnt and disintegrated, the leader included. At the last minute, it escaped the flames, robes burnt and charred.

The magic circle vanished and Samael dissolved back into smoke, falling back into Ryan. He stood still, staring at the boss shadow, looking like a statue with neither facial features to read nor any movement whatsoever. The boss shadow screeched and ran at Ryan, its arms outstretched with killing intent. Ryan didn't move an inch as the black smoke burst forth in front of him in a huge puff and out of the cloud of smoke stretched a hand which reached into the hood of the shadow, grabbing it roughly by the neck and stopping it dead in its tracks. The rest of Samael's form became visible out of the cloud as he floated up, clutching the struggling shadow in a death-grip. Ryan kept his invisible gaze on the shadow and pointed his sword at it.

Between hacks and coughs, the shadow spoke to him. "You… can't kill me. I'll never go a- *hckkk* away as long as she lives!" it said pointing roughly in the cage's direction. Shizune had now stood up and was watching all of this unfold.

"I'm not trying to kill you," Ryan announced through the mask, "I'm saving you both, by bringing you back together whether you like it or not!"

Samael suddenly flung the shadow at Ryan and it landed with a sickening squelch as Ryan's sabre, still held out in front of him went right through its head, meeting almost no resistance. Purple smoke and sludge flew out of the shadow from the hole created by the sword.

Ryan let it fall to the ground as it turned back into its original form. When it finished Ryan walked over to the cage. Shizune was now terrified as Ryan approached her; she stepped back as he walked closer. Ryan, thinking it would help, removed his mask and let go of it. It evaporated in a golden flash.

"Yamagishi, it is I. I told you, I came here to save you. Will you please let me?" he asked with a comforting smile.

Shizune took a long time to answer. "How? If I let that thing be me… why would anyone want to talk to me if I'm really like that?"

"I would," Ryan told her, raising his voice a little.

"How can you say that? How do I know you're telling the truth?"

"Because I had a shadow too and it was every bit as horrible as yours."

Shizune stared into his eyes: grey like this horrible world around them, and saw no sign of deceit. She wanted desperately to believe him but…

"Yamagishi, I mean no offence, but do you really think that I would ever abandon you after all I just did to save your life?" he asked, looking rather jaded.

Shizune's expression reflected her realisation after that point was made. Suddenly, her shadow stood up and walked towards her. It walked into the cage, designed not to keep her in, but keep others out, and stood opposite her. Shizune looked back and forth between her shadow and Ryan.

"What do I do?"

"Tell it what you think sounds right. I just shouted at mine; that seemed to work," he told her, chuckling. Shizune nodded, and then focused her gaze on the shadow.

"…Um, I think I actually knew you were around since just after I started school. All those people were so scary; I just thought it'd be better if I were left alone, so I started acting unfriendly. I realised too late that that wasn't really what I wanted, but I was too afraid to try to fix things, but! I'm not going to be afraid anymore! I know I'm scared and I'm gonna try to get over that fear!"

The shadow nodded and smiled at her, before dissolving into a disgusting sludge and flowing into Shizune's heart. Shizune smiled brightly at Ryan as the cage around her became transparent before fading completely.

"Come Yamagishi, it is time for us to go back," Ryan told her, offering her his hand.

Shizune looked at it then moved her gaze up to Ryan's face. "Can…" she started, lowering her face and staring at the ground, "Can you call me by my first name from now on, please?" she asked with a small smile.

He smiled brighter and quickly answered "Of course, Shizune."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4:Where We Are Now  
**

_"It's certainly been interesting here since I arrived," _thought Ryan, as he walked to answer the door to his lonely dormitory. He opened it, and was utterly shocked by what he saw in front of him.

"Um, h-hi, Ryan," Shizune greeted with a smile which was much less rare nowadays. Beside her stood a large suitcase, with another bag in her arms.

_"And it seems that trend's going to continue."_

* * *

"So you just decided to move in? And your parents minded not at all?" Ryan asked in disbelief. This decision brought new meaning to the word abrupt.

"They were really happy," Shizune replied, looking happy herself. "As soon as they found out I had a friend, they loved you whoever you were; and they only got more excited the more I told them."

"You are talking to your parents about me? What do you say?" Ryan asked nervously. Shizune was surprised by the question.

"Lots of things. The usual. Nothing, really," she blurted out. "Anyway, they got me into the dorm when I told them I wanted to live in one, and since this one is the only one with space left in it..." she continued, eager to change the subject.

"Haha, that is quite clever; but they know not that you and I would be the only persons in the dormitory?"

"Oh, uh, well I... kindaleftthatpartout," she rapid-fired, looking away as she did.

"You, but what if they want to visit or something!?" Ryan asked panickedly.

"It'll be fine. They won't," she assured. "It's not like anything's going to happen anyway, right?"

"...Happen?" asked Ryan, in genuine confusion.

"Huh? Uh, you know..." Shizune replied, fidgeting. She looked to Ryan, hoping he'd get the hint; but he just tilted his head. "I mean, nothing worth worrying about on their part is going to happen." Ryan's face remained unchanged. "Between us," she finished, lowering her head to hide the beginnings of a blush. Realisation dawned on Ryan's countenance.

"O-of course not! Never!" Shizune looked a bit surprised by that reaction. Ryan recoiled. "I mean... that is not to say..." he instantly regretted the tricky situation he'd put himself into. "A-anyway, you ought to get unpacked, yes?"

"O-oh, right!" She got up and brought her bag to the stairs before quickly turning around and walking back to Ryan, who looked at her confusedly. "I need a key... and a room."

"Oh right!"

After fetching a key from the cabinet, Ryan led Shizune to Room 2, right next to his. "...Aren't girls supposed to have rooms on a separate floor?"

"Well, normally," Ryan began; "But, I think it's more important that we both have a room near there," he said, pointing down the hall to the glowing blue door. Looking that way, Shizune went quiet for a while.

"Okay," she eventually responded in a hushed voice. Ryan hated bringing up anything to do with the Grey World; it always had this effect on her. Hoping to alleviate the now tense atmosphere, he hurried her into the room; and told her he'd be waiting downstairs.

* * *

It'd now been almost a week since the incident in the Grey World, and Ryan was now sat with his head on the desk as the rest of the class worked hard on an English test.

Ryan's half-gaze rested on Shizune's rather slowly moving pencil until he was brought out of his reverie by its wielder. "Ryan, what's the English word for 'Personification'?" Shizune whispered with a troubled look. She sounded pretty cute in the voice she used, as if he wouldn't tell her without some appeal.

'What the hell is she writing about?' he thought. The test, which lay completed under his arms, was an essay. Various titles of choice had been given the day beforehand. Ryan had gone with "To Be or not to Be", just to show off and try to catch the teacher out on her knowledge of outdated words and such.

Ryan whispered the translation to her. "Thank you," she muttered back; and returned to her sheet. Perhaps six seconds later she turned her head again. "Ryan," she began again, "how do you say, 'pathetic fallacy'?"

He now had an idea of what title she'd chosen, though why was beyond him. Nevertheless, he helped her.

"Thank you." Back to work. "Ryan," he held back a chortle, "Does 'fallacy' begin with a 'ph' or an 'f'?"

"An 'f'."

She began writing, and stopped again. "One or two 'l's?"

"Two," he whispered with a smirk, subsequently looking towards the teachers desk. She was on a computer with a terribly bored expression. Ryan scanned the rest of the class. Some were as laid back as he, but with almost blank papers in front of them; whilst others were furiously glaring at their sheets. Asuho was one such person, until a light bulb appeared over her head as a smile formed on her face with a "Ding", and she began writing at breackneck speed. There were also a pair of students who quite regularly shifted their gaze from their desk to Ryan's direction, as if to say, "I sure wish I were you right now." This made Ryan smi-

"Ryannn~..." Honestly, she didn't need to sound so desperate. The little pout was also most unnecessary. "How do you spell 'iambic pentameter'?"

That was too much for Ryan to handle. He quickly buried his face into his own arms on his desk to muffle his uncontrollable guffaws. Eventually, he calmed down enough to lift his head safely; and opened his mouth to give an answer when he saw a sight most disconcerting. Shizune was looking rather upset, a bright red blush covering her cheeks, her face pointed downwards. Needless to say, Ryan felt quite ashamed, amongst other things. "S-sorry, it is..." he began, but was halted when she looked up at him with the most powerful puppydog eye - as only one was visible behind her hair, and even then, barely so - he'd ever seen.

'Dear God, what've I done. I'll help you! Please stop!' he begged from his heart.

Shizune got all the answers she wanted after that. When time ran out, she finished her last sentence; planted her pencil on the desk with a loud and proud "Clack", smiling triumphantly, almost... smugly.

'Fucking crocodile tears!?' Ryan gasped in his head. Shizune got up and took up the sheet of paper on the paralysed Ryan's desk.

"Thank you~" she rang gleefully, before turning to hand up both tests.

* * *

Break came as it always did, far too late. Shizune had gotten up off of her seat and begun approaching Ryan's desk. Little did the pink-haired menace know that that put her on a collision course with a head of fiery red and that both would clash for supremacy of the brown which stood taller than both even when seated.

"Oh, hello Asuho," Ryan greeted, as said person approached. Shizune finally took notice, and shifted so that she stood slightly behind Ryan as she faced Asuho.

"Yo, it's been a while, huh? Not long enough that you've forgotten what you said last week though, right?" she prodded, with a wink.

"Ah, Friday. No, I have not forgotten. Training is straight after school, correct?"

"You bet ya!" she responded, now with a wink and a thumbs-up.

"Is this the fencing team?" Shizune asked.

"Yes, what I was telling you about before."

"Oh? Spreading the word for us already? Are you getting her to join?" Asuho tried.

"Haha, no, I am afraid not," Ryan told her with a smile. "I do not get the impression that she would be very interested..."

"Actually," Shizune spoke up, interrupting him. Ryan and Asuho both looked at her, making her falter and look at her feet. "It might be... worth having a look. I suppose," she managed to force out. The pair couldn't help showing their surprise.

"Sure thing!" Asuho was quick to recover. "Say, why don't you both come down to lunch with the team? I know you've already met most of them, Ryan; but the seniors'll be there this time. Plus, someone there still wants to see you about something, you know..."

"I know. What do you think Shizune? Would you mind?"

"Well, I mean," she stuttered and stopped. She took a deep breath before continuing: "As long as you're there. It's fine. I guess," she said to her feet. Looking up, she noticed a curious look coming from Asuho. "W-what's wrong?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing, heheh. Okay, let's go canteen then."

* * *

The fencing team was sat at the same table Ryan had sat with them before. The trio took the three conveniently vacated seats at the end of the table. Sitting next to the first of these seats was none other than Tashi. Ryan gave Asuho a look; and nodded to her, taking the seat next to him. Tashi immediately noticed and looked to him, and then Asuho as she and Shizune sat down. He focused on Ryan beside him, but looked like he was having a hard time to figure out what to say.

"Tashi-san, about last week," he began, expecting Tashi to interrupt him in some way and speak up himself. He instead was allowed to continue. "Well, honestly, it does not bother me at all: I can see whence you might have gotten such an impression. But I would just like to say that that is not really what happened," Ryan informed. Tashi, who had been looking down this entire time, shifted his gaze up.

"Then what did happen?" he asked.

"Tashi!" Asuho shouted, overhearing it all.

Ryan looked around, now noticing he'd gained everyone's attention to at least some extent at the table. "Well," he began, "I was suffering from a _'__glucose deficiency'_!" he spouted out fast. The condition he lied about had been in English, to the confusion of everyone else listening.

"...What?"

"Yes, it is a very serious condition affecting my... _'__neural output'_. It happens whenever my _'levels of blood sugar' _go below a certain amount. I am sorry: I am not sure how to express this," he fibbed with an awkward smile. They seemed to be buying it. Tashi looked dumbfounded. "Er basically, I can get abnormally tired; and then be completely rejuvenated right away. Quite an odd thing, is it not? Haha..."

The delivery was rather weak, but the contents had them convinced. Ryan breathed a deep sigh of relief within his heart. "Damn, I had no idea you were suffering so much, man!" Tashi told him rather emotionally. "Aw geez, I feel like such a jerk now, you know? Is there anything I can do to make things easier for you? If you need me to carry your bag for you or anything, you let me know, okay?" He was serious. He was actually staring Ryan right in the eye as he poured out pity and concern for his sake.

_"My god, I'm so horrible... how could I ever take advantage of someone so fucking stupid?"_ were his only thoughts on the matter. "Er, thank you for your offer, Tashi-san."

"Call me Tashi, man."

Ryan smiled uncomfortably. "Okay... Tashi. That is most kind of you. I will let you know, should such a need arise." He turned his head, unable to face him any longer. "Anyway, so Shizune, why the sudden interest in fencing. You have never expressed such in our conversations," he spoke to the girl next to her in an attempt to escape the current situation.

Shizune, who had been covering her mouth to hide a smirk, suddenly seemed surprised. She looked Ryan in the eye, as if to convey a message. "I think, maybe I should try to get into some sort of sport. I've never done one before, but something made me change my mind recently." She was looking deathly serious. It was obvious what she was trying to say. Uncomfortable with all eyes being on her, she looked down at her hands on the table. Ryan drew their attention for her.

"Will we get to see you in a match today, Asuho? I worry if perhaps you only talk the talk, you doing so as often as you do," Ryan teased.

Asuho merely gave him a proud "Heh! Just you wait! I'll have you know I'm the top of my year!" she happily let him him know with a playful smirk.

"She's right," Tashi spoke up. "She'll definitely be captain next year, and she'll be winning the prefectural for us too," he spoke with a smile.

"That's right!" affirmed Asuho, getting a bit too loud. Even those at other tables were throwing glances at her. "Those other assholes might've gotten lucky last year; but this time, I'll make sure that luck runs dry!"

All this talk of 'luck' made the term 'MLG' come to Ryan's mind. He chuckled to himself, imagining Asuho hyperventilating before a match to pump herself up. Ryan scanned around. The seniors and first-years had returned to their own conversations. Shizune was looking at Asuho with something reminiscent of awe as she told a grande story about last year's "near miss". Checking behind him, he witnessed an undeniably content look on Tashi's countenance as he simply stared at the excited Asuho. He didn't seem to notice Ryan's own stare at him whatsoever.

"And that's why if you join _me__, _Yamagishi," Asuho went on, now pointing at Shizune, "You'll become way more active, more outgoing, everything you need to impress the man of your dreams!" she cheered with a fire burning in her eyes. Shizune was starting to feel very awkward.

"Okay. Well I'll definitely think about it..."

"No thinking! You either do it or you don't! Yoda said that, you know; so it's gotta be true."

"I think you got that reference wrong," informed informed on of the first-years with a hearty laugh.

"...Hmph, whatever, you get what I mean," she muttered, finally quieting down and actually starting to eat her lunch, to the relief of many.

Fortunately, the rest of lunch passed by without much incident; and all stood up to return to class. On the way there, it was once again just Asuho, Shizune and Ryan, who spoke up. "By the way, Shizune," he began, catching the others' attention, Ryan continued with a playful smile, "Would I be correct in thinking that you had chosen 'The Writer' for your essay title?"

Shizune's red oh-so-embarrassed face made a very clear answer. Ryan laughed.

"Oh yeah, how'd you guys do? I was struggling really bad to come up with an idea to write for, like, half the time we had; but once I got going, I was unstoppable!" Asuho told them proudly.

"It went fine," Shizune muttered. "I know I didn't screw up anyway. I had a lot of help," she said with a small smile towards said help.

"And you, Ryan?"

Ryan looked to Asuho blankly. "...I think I did well."

Asuho looked like she was waiting for him to elaborate for a second or two before it hit her. "O-oh, right! Haha, 'well' yeah, of course, 'cause you're... yeah."

_"She and Tashi make a matching pair."_

Shizune laughed, unable to hold this one in, as if she could hear what Ryan was thinking. More likely she was just thinking the same thing. Asuho looked grumpily at her. Shizune saw, and continued laughing. And laughing. At last, Asuho lost and joined her at her own expense. Ryan did so too, smiling broadly. It was nice to see the two getting along already.

* * *

School ended, and fencing began. A short introduction by the manger of the club and the senior members, some questions, and they were ready to start. It really was a small club. Overall, they were: three third-years, four second-years, and two first-years. Of course, they couldn't expect to support more than this anyway without a lot of equipment, being a one-v-one sport. The seniors were left to their own devices; and the manager asked that Asuho take care of the four in her year, himself looking after the juniors.

"Time to show them what you're made of, Asuho," encouraged Tashi.

"Time for you to be my opponent, Tosh," was her response.

"Yeah, yeah..." The two suited up as Ryan and Shizune stood by to watch.

"Mind calling start for us, Ryan?" asked Asuho.

"Very well."

"Oh wait! Do you know the French for it?" enquired Asuho fangirlishly.

"En garde. Prêt. Allez," recited Ryan, glad to show off.

Asuho squealed as she fixed mask. Tashi was less enthused, but did so the same.

Ryan called start for them; and right off the bat, it was clear that Asuho was vastly superior to Tashi in every way. His first loss was faster than Ryan's from last week. As they went on, Tashi was clearly tiring much faster than Asuho, whose posture remained perfectly rigid all this time. Asuho was beaten the odd time, but they decided to call it when the last assault ended with Tashi falling down on his rear. A final score of 10 - 2. The two took off their masks. Asuho looked pleased; Tashi did not.

"Well, waddya think Shizu?" asked Asuho.

_"Shizu? Really?" _Shizune and Ryan both thought in sync.

"You wanna try it for yourself? It's okay, you'll only be playing against like a first year or maybe Tosh."

"Hey!"

"Um, w-well, I think I'll just watch for today," Shizune swiftly stuttered out.

"Hmm, well okay. What about you, Ry?"

_"Are you actually serious with that one?"_

"Sure, I'd love to have a bout against you."

* * *

"...You lost." Shizune finally spoke, interrupting the silence of the train. The car was uninhabited except for her and Ryan. She got no response. "You lost pretty badly..." Ryan groaned in shame, making Shizune giggle.

"That Asuho is inhuman," he finally spoke up. "I can only imagine what she would be like were she to have the same power as us..." the train fell silent once more, save for the sound of its own travel and faint bustle from outside. Ryan turned his head to see Shizune staring into space. He sighed internally. These complete mood changes had to stop. "Shizune..."

"I know," she interrupted. "I know I can't dodge it forever; but, everything's been so nice since..."

"Since you faced your shadow, Shizune. It was a good thing; you know it was," Ryan informed sternly.

Shizune sighed. "It's just so annoying."

"What is?"

"It's unfair."

"What is, Shizune?"

Shizune shut her eyes tight. "You saw my shadow, but I still don't know what happened to you!" She clenched her teeth, small tearlets forming in the corners of her still shut eyes.

Ryan wasn't sure what to do or say.

"I feel so... disgusted. I know it's selfish, but all I wanted was to forget the whole damn thing happened." She took a moment's pause to suppress a sob. "It's so embarrassing: that thing was the absolute worst of me, and it was the first thing you learnt about me!"

Of course, it really was terribly unfair on her. She must have felt so alone whenever she remembered what had transpired in that world, what her shadow had said about her. No wonder she'd want to change the subject. Although that only made it worse. She'd been pushing her feelings down, out of sight, ignoring the problem.

_"She was probably waiting for me to push her..." _he realised, and instantly regretted not doing so sooner. She was probably hiding a lot of anger directed towards him as well. What a useless friend he'd been.

"Shizune... I am so sorry."

"No, it's not your fault. I just, I-"

"I hated my parents," he cut her off. Shizune looked up at him, wide-eyed. Ryan's face was forced into an unconscious scowl. "My shadow was my relationship with my parents. You see..." he was finding this harder than he'd thought he would. He looked into Shizune's eyes, which were focused intently on him. There was no backing out now. He sighed before continuing. "I have never had a permanent home. My parents were... always busy," the last two words carried a palpable contempt. "I still do not know exactly what their job might have been. I never cared enough to ask; I simply hated the fact that it was what drove them both, more than their own child ever could. Do you remember my self-introduction on the first day of school?"

"Y-yeah, I remember..."

"I believe I said that I was 'from Europe, born in England'. No one would ever introduce themselves like that, unless they were like me. I have gone back and forth between homes across the map more times than I can count for as long as I can remember. England, France, Ireland, Germany... Greece, Russia, Norway. All because of their lifestyle. They dragged me along, not having the decency to ask if I wanted to go with them; and I never spoke up, even though I would have preferred that they leave me behind."

The intercom informed the two that the next stop was theirs. Ryan continued on. "That was when I decided to give up."

Shizune waited for him to elaborate, but he remained silent. Though she felt bad for doing so, she asked, "Give up on what?"

"People," he replied. "Do you know how long I had to learn Japanese before coming here? Six months. It is a talent I developed a while ago. I used to think that I could try to make the most of every stay, no matter how short. Make friends at my new school; try to enjoy myself; stay out late without coming home to my empty house; then go through the same goodbyes every... time I had to leave." The desire to curse stopped him for a moment, but he knew not how to do so in Japanese. "It grew tiresome; but this, Japan is my 'final stop'; so I figured I would try it one last time," he finished as the doors of the train opened. He stood up, and put on his bag before walking off.

Shizune followed close behind him. It couldn't end there; she couldn't help herself from asking, "Ryan, why... is this the last time you're moving?"

Ryan turned around with a horridly deadpan expression. "My parents are dead." It was a simple, short statement, spoken clearly and without betraying any emotion whatsoever.

* * *

The dorm was quiet, but hardly peaceful. A silent tumult hung between its two residents, as did the walls of their two seperate rooms. They had walked the remainder of the way from the train station in an uncomfortable silence. Upon enetering the dorm, they both had both gone into their own rooms without a word. Ryan sat at his desk, half-heartedly working out an equation for maths homework; though his focus lay elsewhere. He was waiting to hear a sound, particularly the sound of movement from the room next to his.

In that room lay Shizune. She had simply no idea what she ought to feel in this situation. She'd finally told Ryan what had been bothering her, and he'd finally opened up to her. Then, why did it feel so wrong? He answered her question, they were even now, right?

_"No, all you did was... swap things around."_ She made a frustrated noise, and quickly stood up.

That was the sound of footsteps he'd been anticipating. Next was the door, and finally, "That, y-you're so... mean," she muttered, barely audible.

"I know..." he replied calmly, "But this needs to come to a complete end."

Ryan span his chair around as Shizune walked slowly over to and sat gently on his bed. "I'd given up too," she began hesitantly. "I... was a normal child. I had friends; played with dolls; watched cartoons... but, one day, I was running home from school. I don't even remember why, but I was in a big enough rush that I ignored the crossing guard, and ran out onto the road in front of everyone..." The silent pause said everything that needed saying. "I spent the next two years of my life in a hospital, recovering from a coma. I was seven when this happened. W-when I finally returned to school, nothing was the same. The people who'd known me before, they either avoided me or talked to me out of pity. Word went around about what'd happened, and I... d-d-didn't take it v-very well," she lifted her gaze from the floorboards, so that Ryan could see what she meant. She looked angrier than he'd thought possible, almost like...

_"She looks like her shadow..."_ he thought with dread.

"I... I just... hated it! I hated them! I wished they'd all shut up and just not talk to me at all! S-some of those assholes... actually fucking made fun of me for it! They said it was such a stupid thing to do, and no one stood up for me. It a-actually began to stick be-because I was struggling so badly in school with how long I'd been out, even though I worked so hard to... to-" she couldn't go on. She succumbed to her sobs, and broke down.

After a while, Ryan stood up; and sat down right beside her. Slowly he reached his arm around her. Shizune looked up at his face, tears now streaming down hers. Ryan simply stared back, as his own eyes watered. "There... it is over," he said with a smile. "That was not so hard, was it?"

Shizune just began to sob anew, and leaned into the embrace. The two remained so for a long time.

Eventually, they both came back to their senses; and backed away from each other so that there was some space between them. A silence blanketed the room until Ryan began to speak.

"Say, Shizune," he called, looking at the wall opposite them.

"Hm?" she acknowledged, doing the same.

Ryan turned to her, and managed a smile. "Would you teach me how to curse?"

Shizune blinked. "...Huh?" Of all the things he could've said...

"You see, I actually do not speak in English like I do in Japanese at all. I actually have a rather vulgar tongue; so, I was wondering if you would teach me how to swear, like... I have noticed you do."

"...Huh?" She was still perplexed, but eventually... "Huh... heh... heheheh. Hahahahaha!" She broke out into a fit of giggles, joined shortly by Ryan, in between which she managed to say, "S-sure! Hahaha, I'll sh-show you, pffft, how to talk like me!"

They spent the rest of the day together.

* * *

**A/N: W00t, I did it. Chapter Four actually came out. I beg of thee, please review! Let me know thine opinion: it is of the utmost importance to me!  
**

**Also, I'm pleased to announce that I've made character summaries for the important faces we've come across thus far. Check them out!**

**Next up is the next chapter of "Antihero"!**


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